The Photography Thread 2

[MartyG]

I still find stuff to photo where I am though, but in terms of cash my advise is go to the Maldives

My shot above is achieved by altering the white balance to get the blue yellow contrast - it's something worth exploring, don't just set your camera to auto white balance.

[fishbowlhead]

I still find stuff to photo where I am though, but in terms of cash my advise is go to the Maldives

My shot above is achieved by altering the white balance to get the blue yellow contrast - it's something worth exploring, don't just set your camera to auto white balance.

Interesting I wondered how you did that, figured it was post processing but then remembered you don't really do much, that's the good thing about photography there's always something to aspire too and learn, it's great .

Not really my cup of tea the Maldives, I'm sure it's nice, just a lot of places I prioritise over the obvious holiday traps. Norway this year, though my heart really yearns for a Nepal and Tibet adventure for a month or two.

Lovely flower btw, really nice contrasting shot, white balance advice duly noted.

[EvilBoris]

Here is a few I've experimented with some heavier editing.


IMG_2053.jpg by EvilBoris, on Flickr


YSP by EvilBoris, on Flickr


IMG_2064.jpg by EvilBoris, on Flickr

[fishbowlhead]

I like the middle one boris, reminds of the beginning of Serenity, a very surreal scene.

[Yakumo]

A photo of the moon taken today. You really need to check out the HD version by clicking on the photo and heading off to Flickr


moon-sep19th2013 by Yakum01975, on Flickr

[PeteJ]

Or a d7000 for the price of them, better value than the middling canon models.

An early morning misty pic on my way to work this morning.

Superb, really excellent shot.

Used my camera today for the first time in over a year. Not quite sure why I stopped photography in the first place because I really enjoyed myself! Can you link photos from facebook?

[PeteJ]

_MG_2297 by PeteJ_1980, on Flickr


_MG_2289 by PeteJ_1980, on Flickr


_MG_2266 by PeteJ_1980, on Flickr


_MG_2316 by PeteJ_1980, on Flickr


_MG_2355 by PeteJ_1980, on Flickr

[MartyG]

Homesick

[Yakumo]

A few pictures taken over the last two weeks or so.


Yume Tower by Yakum01975, on Flickr


Man of Fire 1 by Yakum01975, on Flickr


It's safe in the park by Yakum01975, on Flickr


summers stroll by Yakum01975, on Flickr

[fishbowlhead]

Really like man on fire Yakumo, was that on a long exposure?

[Sketcz]

How do you make a Lumix GH3 focus at all distances?

Anyone know how to make a Lumix GH3 take photos where the foreground and background are super crystal clear all the time? I spent ?1800 on this camera, and my conclusion is it's a bit rubbish. I read the instructions, which said increase aperture to have the background in focus. I set the aperture to maximum, because I want everything in focus all the time, but then every shot is blurry!

I've been getting by on the Automatic setting, but it still insists on only focusing on particular section of the shot, rather than everything. I blame artsy photographers who think blurriness is somehow a form of expression. This seems to be some kind of pre-installed nonsense in modern digital cameras. I never had this problem with my 1986 spool camera: you just put film in it, aim, click, and the result was 100% clarity at all distances. For the last 25 years I used the same, single "all focus" setting, and every single shot was crystal clear. I need to take technical photographs - if the entire shot is not 100% in focus, what's the point?

Any advice much appreciated. The instructions paid great attention to useless tips like how to connect to my camera using Wi-Fi, but there was only half a page on something intrinsic like, you know, actually taking a decent photo with it.

I just want a single catch all solution to make this thing stop blurring at different distances.

[Yakumo]

Really like man on fire Yakumo, was that on a long exposure?

It was a little. I was lazy with that shot and had the camera set to AE mode. A little unlike me. I tend to go for manual Aperture priority mode. The EXIF data for the shot is below.

Exif data
Camera Panasonic DMC-GH2
Exposure 1
Aperture f/5.0
Focal Length 32 mm
ISO Speed 160
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Auto, Fired
Exposure Program Program AE
Date and Time (Original) 2013:08:13 21:09:53
Date and Time (Digitized) 2013:08:13 21:09:53
Max Aperture Value 5.0
Metering Mode Multi-segment
Light Source Flash
Sensing Method One-chip color area
Custom Rendered Normal
Exposure Mode Auto
White Balance Auto
Digital Zoom Ratio 0
Focal Length (35mm format) 64 mm
Scene Capture Type Standard
Gain Control Low gain up
Contrast Normal
Saturation Normal
Sharpness Normal
Lens Model LUMIX G VARIO 14-140/F4.0-5.8
Lens Serial Number 09120110056
Compression JPEG (old-style)
Viewing Conditions Illuminant Type D50
Measurement Observer CIE 1931
Measurement Flare 0.999%
Measurement Illuminant D65
XMPToolkit Adobe XMP Core 5.2-c004 1.136881, 2010/06/10-18:11:35
Lens LUMIX G VARIO 14-140/F4.0-5.8

[Yakumo]

I have the GH2 and it is possible to do foreground and background (to a certain distance) at the same focus but you will need the right lens I would have though. All you have to do is use Aperture Priority and set the Aperture to about 7 or so. I'll do an example for you when I get home tonight.

For now take a look at the shot below. Both the foreground and background are in focus.


It's safe in the park by Yakum01975, on Flickr

Exif data
Camera Panasonic DMC-GH2
Exposure 4
Aperture f/7.1
Focal Length 54 mm
ISO Speed 160
Exposure Bias 0 EV
Flash Off, Did not fire
X-Resolution 72 dpi
Y-Resolution 72 dpi
Software Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.4
Date and Time (Modified) 2013:09:29 20:40:42
Exposure Program Shutter speed priority AE
Date and Time (Original) 2013:09:19 19:35:17
Date and Time (Digitized) 2013:09:19 19:35:17
Max Aperture Value 5.6
Metering Mode Multi-segment
Light Source Unknown
Sensing Method One-chip color area
Custom Rendered Normal
Exposure Mode Auto
White Balance Auto
Digital Zoom Ratio 0
Focal Length (35mm format) 108 mm
Scene Capture Type Standard
Gain Control Low gain up
Contrast Normal
Saturation Normal
Sharpness Normal
Lens Model LUMIX G VARIO 14-140/F4.0-5.8
Lens Serial Number 09120110056
Compression JPEG (old-style)
Coded Character Set UTF8
Date Created 2013:09:19
Time Created 19:35:17
Digital Creation Date 2013:09:19
Digital Creation Time 19:35:17
Viewing Conditions Illuminant Type D50
Measurement Observer CIE 1931
Measurement Flare 0.999%
Measurement Illuminant D65
XMPToolkit Adobe XMP Core 5.2-c004 1.136881, 2010/06/10-18:11:35
Lens LUMIX G VARIO 14-140/F4.0-5.8
Creator Tool Adobe Photoshop Lightroom 3.4
Metadata Date 2013:09:29 20:40:42+09:00
Color Transform YCbCr

[Brad]

@Scetcz

Are you coming to GH3 from compact cameras / phone cameras? I'll assume you are and explain what's happening based on that assumption.

On compact cameras and smartphones the sensor is absolutely tiny. One effect of this is that practically everything is in focus, all the time. This is why many camera phones up until recently didn't even have an auto-focus; there was no need for it.

Whilst not the largest sensor out there your GH3's sensor is gigantic compared to the sensor in a phone. A feature of larger sensors is their greater depth-of-field (greater differences between what's in focus and what isn't). To pro photographers this is seen as a great benefit! It allows you to blur out background clutter and pick out an individual item of interest, such as someone's eyes for example.

In order to get everything in focus on your camera you need to set a small aperture (confusingly this means the aperture number must be large) e.g. f/22. The problem now is that you are telling your lens to let less light into the camera so to compensate (and not have a blurry photo due to camera shake) you must compensate:

1. Bump up the ISO setting - this makes the sensor more sensitive to light
2. Steady the camera - A tripod, leaning against a wall, whatever it takes

Bumping up the iso will introduce noise, using a tripod means carrying it around with you.

Everything is a compromise in photography.

I just read your original post and realise I may be teaching you to suck eggs somewhat. What I will say though is you say that your film camera gave 100% clarity at all distances? This is presumably when viewing a small print? If so try setting your GH3 to something like F/8 with the ISO to 400 and view the result no larger than 6"x4" and see if it appears in focus at all distances. These days we tend to look at photos zoomed right in and can see that we have camera shake; something we couldn't do in the past with a 6x4 print and it can make us disappointed with our new camera.

I've got a GH1 and I thing it's brilliant.

[fishbowlhead]

What these guys said, all sound advice